Russia's National Defense newspaper editor, Igor Korotchenko, warned of a potential "preventative limited" nuclear strike on "targets on the territory of the United States of America" during a televised interview this weekend.

"The most important message we should send to the Americans is that we will not wage war with you in Europe," Korotchenko said during an interview on the Russian television show "60 Minutes," which was posted on social media by Ukrainian adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashchenko on Sunday. "In response to your attacks on Russian military or civilian facilities, the first strike will be a preventative limited strike against targets on the territory of the United States of America."

Newsweek reported that the threat comes in response to comments by NATO senior member for logistics, retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, who said in a recent interview that Ukraine must reclaim Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, as part of any victory in the ongoing conflict.

"I don't think [Ukraine will] be able to rebuild their economy as long as Russia occupies Crimea and can disrupt anything going in and out of Odesa, Kherson, or Mykolaiv," Hodges said in an interview with the news outlet Aug. 31. "And of course, the other two main seaports — Berdyansk and Mariupol — even after they're liberated will be useless, because Russia will continue to block the Azov Sea from Crimea."

Korotchenko said that the U.S. and NATO are threatening Russia with more than just Crimea with the placement of weapons systems that could reach into the Russian mainland.

"Russia is being warned and threatened that if we misbehave, or if in [NATO senior member for logistics] Ben Hodges' opinion, we exceed what he considers to be the necessary permissible lines for the use of all types of Russian weapons, he threatens us with more than just strikes on the Crimean bridge," Korotchenko said.

He said he believes the U.S. could consider striking Russia's military bases in Crimea that head the Black Sea Fleet.

He also said there should be discussions internally in Russia about "the use and permissibility of tactical nuclear weapons, what goals and what tactics we will use," the report said.

In response to Korotchenko's comments, NATO's Hodges said that the U.S. was "finally realizing that the likelihood of Russia using a nuclear weapon is extremely small."

And that "Russia has been threatening nuclear strikes since the beginning. I take them seriously," he added, "because Russia has thousands of nuclear weapons and because they clearly don't care how many innocent people may die."

"But I think they realize that their nukes are actually most effective when they don't use them. They see how we self-deter."

Hodges then continued, adding that the mostly Russian-ethnic Crimean peninsula "is the decisive terrain of this war." And "once Ukraine liberates Crimea, it is over. Ukraine knows they cannot ever be safe or secure or rebuild their economy as long as Russia occupies Crimea."

But, according to Chicago University Professor John Mearsheimer, it doesn't matter if the West thinks Russia isn't facing an existential threat; what does matter is that if the Russians think they're facing an existential threat, and the likelihood of Russians using nuclear weapons is "high."

Mearsheimer is a notable critic of the war in Ukraine and subscriber to the "realist" interpretation of global hegemony. He believes NATO's eastward encroachment toward Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union is seen by Russia as an existential threat.

And as the outspoken retired U.S. Army Col. Douglas Macgregor has routinely pointed out, there are people in Washington who farcically believe the U.S. can survive a tactical nuclear war.

There's no such thing as a limited nuclear war," Macgregor said in an episode of "Useful Idiots."

"I mean, the whole thing is just crazy." There are people in Washington who will say, " 'Well, we'll launch a low-yield nuclear warhead of less than five kilotons. Don't worry, the other side will understand.' Well, that's absurd. A nuclear detonation goes off in your backyard — you trigger something in eastern Ukraine where there's a Russian concentration with a tactical nuclear weapon — and what do they think in Moscow? 'Oh my God, we better launch a first strike, or we'll lose our arsenal.' And what have you got? Armageddon."

According to Newsweek, Russia announced last week that its Sarmat nuclear ICBM missile system has been put on active combat duty.

The Moscow Times reported Sept. 1 that the "invincible" RS-28 Sarmat, called Satan 2 in the West, is a next-generation hypersonic missile with multiple warheads that can evade anti-missile defense systems.

Writer Nick Koutsobinas contributed to this report.

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